It’s that time again folks! It’s been a couple weeks since Battletome: Stormcast Eternals and Battletome: Orruk Warclans hit shelves and that means a follow up FAQ to fix typos, overpowered effects and so on. What do these mean for your new armies? Read on.

Stormcast Eternals

Stormcast Eternals were subject to a few nerfs, one of which has been in the meta for a bit and one is affecting a future concern. The big one is the Translocation nerf, which previously allowed a unit to move in the following movement phase. This lead to Stormcast teleporting 9” away, walking 5” and then only needing to make an extremely simple 4” charge to get in. Clearly not intended, as similar abilities don’t allow movement after and fully expected by the majority of the community. So now it’s been updated to be consistent with that. It’s still incredibly good for board control and will still be an auto-take in many lists, just less abusable. 

The other nerf is for future Draconith lists, which have been studied through hypothetical list building as we wait for the launch of Stormdrake Guard. The Command Trait Masters of the Celestial Menagerie forced a -1 to Wound nerf against Draconith units but has been changed to only affect attacks against Behemoths, which limits its use to Stardrakes and Krondys/Karazai (the two unreleased named dragons). It’s probably one of the weaker nerfs they could have applied to Draconith lists, but still potent. Having a -1 to wound is brutal and at least that will be less of a concern. Stormdrake lists will likely still be incredibly powerful but will at least die a bit. 

Some other odds and ends, Gryph-chargers now count as mounts and get a trait, just a small error from the tome to be fixed. They also restated that Yndrasta’s monster hunter ability (Which treats as Monster as 10 wounds lower for purposes of its damage bracket) and the Feral Roar command ability (Which lets a Monster act at full health) are simultaneous effects and are therefore determined by whoever’s turn it is. The latter was already rules as written but it’s nice to have it further clarified. 

Overall mostly a nerf for the faction. Neither of the big changes is likely to radically alter the power balance of the faction but it’s still notable. The Translocation nerf is big and will change a lot of games. It’s still a good prayer for including in Stormkeep lists, to add some teleporting ability, but won’t have the guaranteed charges it once did. The Celestial Menagerie nerf is going to toy with a few lists that have been theorycrafted but haven’t hit the table yet, but Dragons likely will remain powerful. 

Orruk Warclans

In a surprise twist, Gore-gruntas were beneficiaries of a buff. Their spears are now Rend -2 instead of -1, a surprising change but well appreciated. There wasn’t really any reason to take them over your other weapon option before because spears got one fewer attack and only benefitted from a 2” range (Which means nothing to these guys) and +1 to rolls for mortal wounds on the charge. Now for an extra rend (so Rend -3 on the turn you Waaaaagh!) the spears are an obvious pick. Good stuff.

Megabosses (And Gordrakk) had their ability to have a command ability affect 3 units changed slightly. Now you can use it 3 times in a row, with the 2nd and 3rd use being free. While a bit more verbose in its wording, this clears up some weird rules discrepancies with some command abilities in regards to proper range. Essentially you’re using it 3 times for the price of 1 instead of chaining the effect to nearby units.

The rest is less exciting. Marshcrawla Sluggoth got the Kruleboyz keyword, which he clearly was supposed to but missed in printing. Now he has a home, good for him.

One last Core Rule change, but one largely targeted at Ironjawz. Pile-ins do not necessarily mean a unit gets to attack, such as with Mighty Destroyers or the Bloodtooth Allegiance Ability. An ability will say Pile-in and attack if it does, so worth noting.

The changes are a lot less exciting that Stormcast, though that extra rend on Gore-Gruntas might be getting people to think if they need to swap weapons. They remain where they are, in a good place.

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